Coconut Macaroons (Besitos de Coco)


En Español
These coconut macaroons aka coconut kisses in Spanish, taste so delicious you won't believe they are this easy to prepare! For coconut lovers this is one treat you won't be able to control yourself with, you'll definitely eat more than one kiss!

While other countries celebrate fall with pumpkins, cranberries, and nuts, we continue to celebrate our paradise climate with Caribbean fruits desserts. I highly recommend this recipe for Thanksgiving and Christmas, it would be nice to have a tropical treat in your dessert table. There are many variations of these macaroons on the web, some have egg whites, but these do not and taste superb!




Musical Cupcakes and How-To Fondant Cover Cupcakes


En Español

After I posted the Kitty cupcakes I received several emails about fondant covered cupcakes. The process is very simple and I put together a quick video on how I fondant cover cupcakes. Also among the FAQs are the following:

Can I use Italian meringue under fondant? 
Yes, you can spread a thin layer of a Italian meringue on a cake or cupcake then cover with fondant.


How do I make the fondant look rounded and high on the center, when the cupcake recipe makes the cupcakes come out flat? 
If the recipe you used results in flat topped cupcakes, use a pastry bag or small spatula to place the frosting starting from the center out and make the frosting slightly higher in the center. Leave about 1/4 inch (0.6 cm) edge without frosting. Place the fondant carefully and with your fingertips smooth out fondant circle towards the edge gently. The fondant will stick properly and will have a rounded center.


Can I use royal icing to decorated over fondant?
Yes, you can use royal icing and also buttercream to decorate over fondant. I think with the photos of these cupcakes this topic is more than covered :)


For how long does a fondant covered cupcake keeps, and how many days in advance ahead of time can I decorate cupcakes like these with fondant?
I always recommend delivering or consuming any baked good as fresh as possible. The days that a fondant covered cupcake  keeps well for, depends on many factors such as type of decoration used, the filling, the quality of the fondant and how you store it. You can decorate a day in advance and store in a cool, dry area covered with a cardboard box. In my opinion, decorated cupcakes should not be left out for more than two or three days if you want optimum taste.




For these musical cupcakes I used marshmallow fondant, and black royal icing for the musical notes. The cookie cutter you´ll need for this type of decoration is a 3 inch one. It is hard to find alone, that is why I bought this set of six round double sided cookie / biscuits cutters and I highly recommend them because they are so useful and very much needed for all type of cake, cupcake or cookie decor. Check out the set I am telling you about here: Ateco 6-Piece Double Sided Round Cutter Set.


Have a blessed week!


Don’t say anything that would hurt another person. Instead, speak only what is good so that you can give help wherever it is needed. That way, what you say will help those who hear you. 
- Ephesians 4:29 

Cake Pops, Ballerina Cupcakes, and Cute Cake for Topaz 16th Birthday!


Oh my, the years, months and days are just going by too fast! Sometimes too fast to literally stop and smell the roses, in my case, hibiscus flowers! Wednesday my youngest daughter turned sixteen! My little girl is not a baby anymore, well it has been a while since she is not been a baby, but it is so hard for me to get that in my head. To me she is still my blue eye baby. Since her favorite color is blue, I made the cake pops and cupcakes in this shade too!


The past weekend and the beginning of the week was not so great due to my grandmother's departure to heaven, but as costumed for years, I always bake something for my daughters on their birthdays, and I couldn't miss that for my youngest sixteenth birthday. Topaz is a bright girl, she is very obedient and strives always to do her best in all that she does. She loves photography and at times is the one photographing for my christian blog. My husband and I have been greatly blessed with her.


I love her quirky nature photos, and I believe she is good at that because she has always been a fan of all things nature. I remember her going out into the farm and searching all over for garden fairies, she collects rocks, nests, shells and skeleton leaves... you're probably asking, what leaves??? Yes, skeleton leaves exist and she taught me that when she was four! She still has a few of her first collections saved in a journal somewhere. I remember those wonderful days when she asked why? what? and where? Unlike my other daughters, Topaz would not settle for simple answers, she wanted the real deal and all the facts about everything a young child could ask about. I also miss her fairy hunting and fairy house building where I was her accomplice on many occasions. This is why I decided to make the cupcakes a mixture of ballerina and fairy dress.


The bodice is fondant left to harden over night on a curved tube, I used a rolling pin. The skirt is vanilla buttercream, and I used tip number 104 to make the scallop shapes. When making the skirt or tutu make sure the narrow part of the tip is facing you.


I asked Topaz what kind of cake she wanted and left her looking at sweet sixteen cakes on pinterest, two minutes later she was looking under cute cakes and found this cake. She said, I like that one! I was surprised, no black, no fuchsia feathers, nor sparkles or zebra print as many others teenagers her age like. She loved the idea of a cute, whimsical and fun cake with an ice-cream cone upside down on top. I had planned to make her a bigger cake like this, but a week before she changed her mind and said she preferred the pineapple upside down cake she loves so much. I did bake her that cake, and settled for a tiny version of the cute cake to surprise her. The mini ice-cream is a cake pop, everything else was fondant outside, and inside vainilla buttercream crumbcoat and chocolate cake cut out with round cookie cutters.


The cake pops were done in the same fashion as these, but instead of dry them side up in a foam, I laid them to dry on a tray lined with wax paper cake pop side down. When dried you should be able to lift and place in serving plate. If your cake pops get stuck to the tray don't panic, just pop them in the freezer for 3-5 minutes and then you should be able to pick them up easily. I used white non-pareils and fondant flowers for the decor on this cake pops.


This is all for my weekend notes about my little one's treats. I loved the ideas and outcome so much I wanted to share it with you. Have a blessed week :)

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. - 1 Timothy 4:12 New